Providing emergency access to surveillance video

• US 9,071,807 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2013
• Issued: 06/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Generac Power Systems Incorporated (Generac Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Billau, Ronald L., Di Luoffo, Vincenzo V., Dumarot, Dan P., Paschal, Matthew J., Schulz, Brandon W., Woodbury, James E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhao, Daquan
• Application Number:
  US13/751,023
• Publication Number:
  US 20140132764A1
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 386/226, 386/227, 386/228, 386/239, 386/240, 386/248
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/19645 Multiple cameras, each having view on one of a plurality of scenes, e.g. multiple cameras for multi-room surveillance or for tracking an object by view hand-over
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 19/005 combined burglary and fire alarm systems
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/006 Alarm destination chosen according to type of event, e.g. in case of fire phone the fire service, in case of medical emergency phone the ambulance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/00 Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD] real-time bi-directional transmission of motion video data H04N7/14 ; broadcast or conference over packet switching networks H04L12/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/76 Television signal recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/765 Interface circuits between an apparatus for recording and another apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/772 the recording apparatus and the television camera being placed in the same enclosure
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/18 Closed-circuit television [CCTV] systems, i.e. systems in which the video signal is not broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/181 for receiving images from a plurality of remote sources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/79 Processing of colour television signals in connection with recording
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8205 involving the multiplexing of an additional signal and the colour video signal

Abstract

Real-time access by a public authority emergency responder to surveillance video of a privately-controlled source is conditionally pre-authorized dependent on the existence of at least one pre-specified emergency condition, and recorded in a data processing system. A public authority emergency responder subsequently requests real-time access to the surveillance video (e.g., during an emergency), and if the pre-specified emergency condition is met, access is automatically granted, i.e., without the need for manual intervention. A pre-specified emergency condition could, e.g., be an alarm condition detected by a sensor at the site of the video surveillance, or a declared state of emergency, properly declared by an appropriate public official.

Claims

1. A digital data processing system for managing access to surveillance video, comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory;

at least one network adapter for communicating over at least one network with at least one requesting device;

a video access authorization function embodied as a plurality of instructions recordable in said memory and executable on said at least one processor, said video access authorization function accessing at least one previously recorded authorization record responsive to a request on behalf of a remote requestor to access surveillance video generated by a privately-controlled surveillance domain in real-time to determine whether access by the requestor is authorized, said surveillance video being generated independently of a detected pre-specified emergency condition, said surveillance video being unconditionally accessible to at least one user authorized to said privately-controlled surveillance domain but not unconditionally accessible to public authority emergency responders, said at least one previously recorded authorization record including a conditional authorization record specifying at least one emergency condition for granting, to a remote public authority emergency responder, real-time access to said surveillance video generated by said privately-controlled surveillance domain;

wherein, responsive to receiving a request on behalf of said public authority emergency responder to access surveillance video generated by said privately-controlled surveillance domain in real-time, said video access authorization function determines whether said at least one emergency condition for granting access is met, and responsive to determining that said at least one emergency condition is met, automatically authorizes real-time access by said public authority emergency responder to the requested surveillance video;

wherein said at least one emergency condition comprises an alarm condition detected by at least one sensor in said privately-controlled surveillance domain.

2. The digital data processing system of claim 1,

wherein said video access authorization function accesses a plurality of previously recorded authorization records, each authorization record specifying at least one respective requestor authorized to remotely access in real-time said surveillance video generated by said privately-controlled surveillance domain, said plurality of authorization records including said conditional authorization record and an unconditional authorization record unconditionally authorizing access to at least one respective requestor.

3. The digital data processing system of claim 1,

wherein said digital data processing system is included within said privately-controlled surveillance domain.

4. The digital data processing system of claim 1,

wherein said digital data processing system is a surveillance video broker system communicating remotely with said privately-controlled surveillance domain over a network and communicating remotely with said public authority emergency responder over a network.

5. The digital data processing system of claim 4, further comprising:

a registration function embodied as a plurality of instructions recordable in said memory and executable on said at least one processor, said registration function registering a plurality of video surveillance domains and a plurality of clients, said plurality of video surveillance domains including said privately-controlled surveillance domain, said plurality of clients including said public authority emergency responder;

wherein registration status of each respective client requesting real-time access to at least some video produced by a respective surveillance domain is verified before access is authorized.

6. The digital data processing system of claim 4, further comprising:

an event logging function which maintains an auditable record of each instance of certain events, said events including a state of emergency declared by a public authority which could authorize access by said public authority emergency responder to video of a privately-controlled surveillance domain.

7. A computer program product embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable media for managing access to video surveillance data, said computer program product comprising instructions executable on at least one data processing system which cause the at least one data processing system to perform:

responsive to receiving in said at least one data processing system a request on behalf of a public authority emergency responder to access surveillance video generated by a privately-controlled surveillance domain in real-time, (a) automatically accessing a conditional authorization record in said at least one data processing system, said conditional authorization record recording at least one pre-specified emergency condition for granting real-time access by said public authority emergency responder to surveillance video generated by said privately-controlled surveillance domain, and (b) automatically determining whether said at least one pre-specified emergency condition for granting access is met; and

responsive to determining that said at least one pre-specified emergency condition is met, automatically authorizing real-time access by said public authority emergency responder to the requested surveillance video;

wherein said surveillance video is generated in said privately-controlled surveillance domain independently of said at least one pre-specified emergency condition, said surveillance video in said privately-controlled surveillance domain being unconditionally accessible to at least one user authorized to said privately-controlled surveillance domain but not unconditionally accessible to public authority emergency responders;

wherein said at least one pre-specified emergency condition comprises an alarm condition detected by at least one sensor in said privately-controlled surveillance domain.

8. The computer program product of claim 7,

wherein said computer program product accesses a plurality of previously recorded authorization records, each authorization record specifying at least one respective requestor authorized to remotely access in real-time said surveillance video generated by said privately-controlled surveillance domain, said plurality of authorization records including said conditional authorization record and an unconditional authorization record unconditionally authorizing access to at least one respective requestor.

9. The computer program product of claim 7,

wherein the at least one data processing system on which the computer program product executes is included within said privately-controlled surveillance domain.

10. The computer program product of claim 7,

wherein the at least one data processing system on which the computer program product executes is a surveillance video broker system communicating remotely with said privately-controlled surveillance domain over a network and communicating remotely with said public authority emergency responder over a network.

11. The computer program product of claim 10,

wherein said instructions further cause the at least one data processing system to register a plurality of video surveillance domains and a plurality of clients, said plurality of video surveillance domains including said privately-controlled surveillance domain, said plurality of clients including said public authority emergency responder;

wherein registration status of each respective client requesting real-time access to at least some video produced by a respective surveillance domain is verified before access is authorized.

12. The computer program product of claim 10,

wherein said instructions further cause the at least one data processing system to maintain an auditable record of each instance of certain events, said events including a state of emergency declared by a public authority which could authorize access by said public authority emergency responder to video of a privately-controlled surveillance domain.